Retired Nomads: Cape of Good Hope & Table Mountain - Cape Town, South Africa

Cape of Good Hope & Table Mountain - Cape Town, South Africa – April 3

Today I had booked a tour to see the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Point, Penguin Colony and a Seal Island Boat Trip. The tour operator was very responsive and helpful, and the tour went well, and our guide went above and beyond.

https://www.capetowndaytours.net/cape-of-good-hope-cape-point-penguin-colony-seal-island-boat-trip-private-tour-9-hours.html

Today we were joined by Tom & Cathy and John & Toni. What a great day we had together!

view of Table Mountain

We got off the ship and our guide Thabiso was waiting for us. He was a super guide and so full of knowledge and pride in his country. He was kind and patient with our group taking our time at each of the stops. We stopped for many photo ops of the beautiful coastline. We had a glorious sunny and warm day which helped with the photo ops.

We had a lovely boat trip to see Cape Fur Seals at the quaint fishing village of Hout Bay. Just a beautiful morning to be out on the water taking in the breath-taking scenery and the Fur Seals swimming and frolicking and lounging on the rocks. There were Cape Cormorants and other birds as well.

Cape Fur Seals on the island - piles of them

Cape Cormorants

As we were getting ready to get off the boat, there were some performers dressed in colorful costumes, dancing and playing instruments. We all tipped them for performing.

They had a nice craft market set up and we all did some shopping before moving on. In hindsight I should have picked up more here since I didn’t find much in Cape Town proper.

the lady that sold me the carving

We continued down the scenic Atlantic seaboard coastal road admiring the stunning views. We made a stop to take photos of each other. We passed the pristine beaches of Clifton and Camps Bay with their soft white sand and azure blue water.

Cathy & Tom

road built into the rocks

Our tour continued over Chapman’s Peak which offered amazing photo opportunities. Finally, we arrived at the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. (Table Mountain National Park) After some more beautiful scenery and driving past Ostrich Farms we arrived at the Visitor’s center. 4 of us rode the funicular up to the top and the other 2 walked up. There were lots of naughty baboons there that loved to steal food or grab handbags. We got great views of the lighthouse and the surrounding scenery. We took turns taking photos of us with the sign portraying the direction & distances of certain cities. When we were ready, we took the funicular back down. Then we got some silly photos of us posing with the tourist picture frame.

the point where the 2 oceans meet from above

boarding the funicular to go to the top

watch out for the baboons

Black Girdled Lizard

Cathy & Tom

As we waited for the next funicular to come down, one of the baboons stole a ladies’ bag of chips. As we were driving out, we saw another one holding 2 large sub sandwiches in one “hand” and was running away with them. Toni said one jumped on her back as they were walking down. She had a backpack on and he must have smelled food.

On our way out, we saw some ostriches in the wild and an Eland. We stopped to get some photos. Just an awesome sighting since none of us had seen them on our safaris.

Eland

Ostrich

We then drove to the place where the 2 oceans meet and got our photos with the sign saying we were at the most South-western point of the African Continent.

Tom & Cathy, Greg & Annette, Toni & John

We again stopped on the way back to get more photos of the Eland and the Ostriches. They were a bit closer now. They also have Cape Zebras, but we didn’t see any.

not often will you see a photo of an Ostrich with ocean in the background

Our next stop was at Simon’s Town where we opted to have lunch. SEAFORTH Restaurant was right on the water and we got seats on the outdoor patio. We could see penguins going in and out of the water from there. The food there was superb. I had the traditional African Bobotie and Greg got a seafood curry. One couple got the best looing Greek Salads that I have ever seen and the other couple both got fish.

SEAFORTH Restaurant

Cathy & Tom

Toni & John

side for seafood curry

seafood curry

side for Bobatie

Bobatie

watching the penguins from the restaurant

the people were too close to them, but I imagine they are used to people

We then walked to Boulders Penguin Colony to see the South African Penguin Colony. They are part of the Gentoo family and they also have been called Jack-ass penguins for the braying sound they make. It was a fairly short walk through a small part of town to get to Boulders Penguin Colony. There was a boardwalk down to where they were, and we also saw Rock Hyrax along the way.

There were quite a few of the little guys and some were molting. There was a sad sight with a young penguin that was nearly dead. Its’ mother was flapping it hard with her wings and pecking at it. It moved a tiny bit and then just laid there again. Other penguins were now pecking at it. I imagine they were trying to put it out of its misery.

Another sight was “penguin porn”. Which went on for quite a long time for birds. Other birds were in their nests with older chicks and many were swimming or just hanging out on the beach. We could have watched these beautiful creatures all day, but of course we had to get going. On the walk back, some of the penguins were just walking down the street.

Hyrax

2 penguins in front of an Anhinga

Cape Wagtail

penguin porn

molting

homes in the distance

walking back to the car

We drove back to Cape Town with great views of the countryside and then the city.

Our guide asked how many more days we had in Cape Town and we told him just one and we had planned to do Table Mountain. He stressed many times that the weather for the next day was going to be rainy and awful, which we knew from following the weather.

He said I strongly suggest that you go tonight. You have 3 hours and I will drop you there and you can take a cab back to the ship. We debated for a short while, it did seem to make the most sense. We had pre-purchased tram tickets, but Thabiso said we could apply for a refund if those tickets were unused. We and Tom & Cathy agreed we should go. The other couple wanted to go back to the ship. Thabiso drove us to the tram parking lot and off we went to get tickets. He then drove John & Toni back to the ship.

Table Mountain Ticket Counter

The people at the ticket counter said they would honor our tickets so that made it easy for us. Tom & Cathy bought their tickets and then we went to get on the tram. It was packed with people, so we opted to wait for the next one to have more space.

cable car

The next one just had a few of us and as long as you were at the outside, the floor of the tram car slowly rotates so everyone gets a view all around. When we got to the top, we couldn’t believe how few people were there.

views from the cable car on the way up

Cathy & Tom

rock climbers

We walked the trail around the top with fabulous views of the 12 Apostles Peaks and the city. By that time the sunset was beginning to take on some color. We wanted to grab a drink and watch it, but we couldn’t take our eyes off of the sunset. It just kept getting better and better. The restaurant & bar was supposed to be open, but none-the-less it was closed by the time we got there. We thought we had over a half an hour, so I popped in to pick up a magnet. Apparently, they moved everything up a half an hour, so we had to go down sooner that we expected. We did get some great views of the twinkling lights of the city before heading down on a tram. We all were so glad we decided to do it then instead of waiting until tomorrow. The sunset and the twinkling city lights were just magical; made extra special with the company of Tom & Cathy. They really are great company. Sorry that John & Toni missed that beautiful view and sunset, but they chose to go back to the ship.